


tutto bene

by andyandromache (ganseyboii)



Series: not only alive, but content [1]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, basically this is just soft, booker and andy are mentioned but barely, pre-nile adventures, so this is for u anon, someone asked me to write a soft scene where nicky and joe wash each others hair, they r in love and that's the focus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:16:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25419817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ganseyboii/pseuds/andyandromache
Summary: Pre-mission, the hotel was a fun place to order food, to lounge on the balconies in the summer heat, and push Booker into the pool when he wasn't paying attention. It had an excellent view of the patio where Andy and Book met their client and fantastic air-conditioner to comfort Nicky and Joe as they waited above, watching through the scope of a rifle.Post-mission, all that mattered was the monstrous, marble clawfoot tub that could be filled with steaming hot water, pushed to the brim by the bodies of two exhausted men....in which the gang hops the border, nicky drowns in mud, and joe is the little spoon for once
Relationships: Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: not only alive, but content [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841200
Comments: 6
Kudos: 289





	tutto bene

**Author's Note:**

> for the anon that requested a scene where they wash each other's hair: this is for you :) 
> 
> this is my first tog fic so I hope it's not terrible; also i barely did any research for this, i didn't have a beta reader, and i wrote it late at night, so im sorry for any mistakes or just incorrect things about bolivia :/ it was just one of the first countries that came up when I googled jungle mud pits

The Brazilian hotel they were staying in was disgustingly lavish, but it was one of the few in the area with a helipad on the roof and the kind of security cameras that deleted their footage after twenty-four hours.

Pre-mission, it was fun to order food, to lounge on the balconies in the summer heat, and push Booker into the pool when he wasn't paying attention. It had an excellent view of the patio where Andy and Book met their client and a fantastic air-conditioner to comfort Nicky and Joe as they waited above, watching through the scope of a rifle.

Post-mission, all that mattered was the monstrous, marble clawfoot tub that could be filled with steaming hot water, pushed to the brim by the bodies of two exhausted men.

Nicky leaned heavily against Joe's chest, but it was welcome pressure, grounding the two of them to the moment, reminding them that they were together and safe.

"We're disgusting," Nicky had chuckled as they had lowered themselves into the tub. Joe's hands settled on his shoulders and began to massage as he responded.

" _We_? Darling, I wasn't the one who drowned in the mud pit."

" _Santa Maria, madre de Dio_ ," Nicky muttered. "That was not my fault."

The water that sloshed out of the tub went unnoticed as Joe maneuvered Nicky into a sitting position and reached for the bottle of shampoo. As he poured, the scent of lavender mixed with the steam of the bath and filled the room. Gently, Joe began to work the soap through Nicky's hair, taking time to dissolve the clots of mud and brain matter that stuck his hair together in clumps.

It really hadn't been Nicky's fault he drowned in the mud. The helo had flown them over the border into Bolivia where they had been contracted to defend the natural gas resources from encroaching companies willing to get rid of any of the Bolivians who stood in their way to a major pay day.

The job had been easy; the corporation paid a private army to keep them safe, but facing armies was quite literally their job. But on their way back to the extraction, things went wrong.

The jungle was dark, they were navigating through trees and mud pits and Booker's flashlight had died after he used it like a club against the head of one of the night watch. A shot sliced through the chatter of the jungle and Joe only had time to watch Nicky's head snap back with the impact of the bullet. He dropped like a sack and all Joe could do was shout as his body rolled down the hill and sunk deep into the mud pit.

Joe took a shot to the knee and another to the shoulder before Andy took out the shooter. They split into two teams, Andy and Book went to investigate and Joe picked his way down the hill to find his lover.

"Nicky?" He hissed. "Nicolo."

There was a thick splash off to his right and his flashlight beam revealed Nicky's hand clawing at the bank of the swamp. Joe reached out and grabbed him, yanking him up and out of the water to beach on the solid ground.

Nicky wretched, expelling muddy water from his lungs.

"I have never particularly enjoyed drowning," he had said softly, wiping his face off with an equally muddy sleeve. Joe hauled him upright and together they made their way back to Andy and Booker.

In the helo back, they had discovered that they had accidentally wandered into a cartel controlled coca farm and the shooter was a single guard.

Back in the hotel, Joe continued to methodically massage the soap through Nicky's hair, feeling him relax under his hands.

"Rinse," Joe said softly. Nicky tilted his head back and let Joe wash the soap and gore away.

They repeated the process with conditioner and then Joe let himself be turned until their positions were reversed and it was Nicky's hands pushing soap through his curls.

"You had me worried for a moment, there, in the jungle." Joe's words were quiet, but heavy. It was something that always went through their minds when one of them went down in a fight. What if that was the last time?

"My time has not come yet. I won't allow my final death to be at the hands of a mud pit and a lucky sniper." He tucked his arms around Joe who reclined against him. A reversal of their usual position. Joe squeezed his wrist and Nicky planted a kiss against his dark hair.

"We're both still here," Joe reassured, either to himself or his lover, neither were sure, but the statement worked either way. They relaxed in the comfort of each other, savoring the heat of the bath and the love they felt, basking in the feeling of being not only alive, but content.

" _Si, tutto bene._ "

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading :) find me on tumblr [@andyandromache](https://andyandromache.tumblr.com)  
> I'm currently accepting prompts for this series which is mostly just going to be ficlets focused on domestic joe and nicky because they deserve peace


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